Butterfly Sea Cucumber

Butterfly Sea Cucumber

　　Chinese Name: Butterfly Sea Cucumber

　　Notable Establishment: Yangzhou Restaurant

　　Introduction

　　Sea cucumber, as a prized seafood delicacy, is ranked among the “Eight Treasures” alongside bird’s nest and shark’s fin. It has been highly popular since the Ming and Qing dynasties and remains a fine dish at banquets. Among regional Chinese cuisines, “Butterfly Sea Cucumber” is a luxurious sea cucumber dish from Yangzhou and stands out as an exceptional banquet offering.

　　Though highly valued, the consumption of sea cucumber does not have a long history. The earliest known record is found in *Dietary Knowledge* by Jia Ming of the Yuan Dynasty: “Sea cucumber: sweet and salty in flavor, cold and slippery in nature; avoid if suffering from diarrhea or dysentery.” This text only describes its properties, with no mention of how it was consumed. It wasn’t until the Qing Dynasty that references to sea cucumber in cooking became more common. One such anecdote is about the renowned Confucian Mansion dish “Bamboo Shadow Sea Cucumber.” Legend has it that Kong Lingyi, the 76th-generation descendant of Confucius and Duke Yansheng, had a lifelong passion for calligraphy and an interest in painting bamboo. He often gathered literati for poetry and painting sessions. Once, during a gathering where wine was served, the chef minced chicken breast into a paste, shaped it like bamboo segments, added sea cucumber, and poured in triple-shredded soup before serving (the dish was originally called “Clear Soup Sea Cucumber”). Inspired by the scene, the host suggested naming it “Bamboo Shadow,” and the name stuck. Since then, sea cucumber dishes became part of the “Manchu-Han Imperial Feast.” Later, “Sea Cucumber Banquets” also emerged, though these didn’t consist entirely of sea cucumber dishes—rather, they were named for featuring sea cucumber as the main dish.

　　Mo Youcai, a master chef at Shanghai’s Yangzhou Restaurant, has been preparing “Butterfly Sea Cucumber” for over forty years. His version features refined techniques: a rich white broth, a deliciously mellow flavor, and butterfly-shaped sea cucumber slices that are smooth, tender, and resilient—earning high praise from both domestic and international diners.

　　Origin: Yangzhou, Jiangsu

　　Preparation Method

　　[Ingredients]

　　500g soaked sea cucumber, 2 boiled eggs, 25g cooked ham, 50g cooked chicken, 50g cooked shrimp, 50g pea sprouts, 10g Shaoxing wine, 10g salt, 1.5g MSG, 10g each of scallion bunch and ginger slices, 75g cooking oil, 750g concentrated white broth, 50g cornstarch mixed with water.

　　[Method]

　　(1) Rinse the large raw sea cucumber in cold water to remove internal sand and intestines. Place it dorsal side up on a cutting board, slice it diagonally into pieces that naturally curl into butterfly shapes. Remove the yolks from the boiled eggs and slice the egg whites into thin pieces. Also slice the cooked chicken into thin slices and set aside.

　　(2) Briefly blanch the sea cucumber in boiling water, then remove and drain using a strainer. Heat a wok, add 50g of cooking oil, first fry the scallion bunch and ginger slices until golden and fragrant, then remove them. Add the sea cucumber to the wok, gently stir a few times, pour in the wine, cover and simmer briefly to eliminate the fishy smell. Then add the concentrated broth, shrimp, chicken slices, egg white slices, ham slices, along with salt and MSG. Bring to a boil, simmer briefly, then add the pea sprouts. Thicken with the cornstarch slurry to form a smooth sauce, stir in melted lard, then transfer to a serving bowl and serve.